New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- India's latest goods and services tax (GST) revenue figures paint an optimistic picture. September collections rose 9% from a year earlier to Rs.1.89 trillion.

Since the data pertains to transactions done in August, it signals reasonably robust demand, given that many big-ticket buys may have got deferred mid-month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day announcement of an indirect tax-relief bonanza.

If GST rate cuts effective from 22 September result in surging retail offtake, incipient indications of which have arisen, the country's mop-up could be higher in October and November.

The government would be tracking this data closely. Its tax stimulus is designed to stoke consumption, which accounts fo...